Breakestra

I learned about the mighty Breakestra when I walked into a record store several years ago, and heard what I thought were the wet, slathery sounds of vintage funk dripping out of the store's sound system like butter coming off a hot biscuit. Only, much to my surprise, it wasn't vintage at all - it was a brand squeaky clean new recording, called "The Live Mix Part 2" by the group the Breakestra, in which they create a seamless 40 minute funk jam from about 27 different tunes. It's amazing. Even more amazing is catching one of their rare live shows - always a hot, sweaty affair of nonstop funk action. It's hard to imagine, but their sets typically blaze straight through for over an hour - no question, perhaps the finest live funk band in existence today.